Effect of the coughing technique during subcutaneous heparin injection on pain severity and individual satisfaction

OBJECTIVE: to examine the effect of the medium intensity coughing technique during subcutaneous low molecular weight heparin injection on pain severity and individual satisfaction in general surgery patients. METHOD: the prospective, quasi-experimental study included 100 patients who had been prescribed a subcutaneous low molecular weight heparin injection once in 24 hours. Each patient received two injections by the same researcher, one using the standard injection technique with medium intensity coughing technique and the other only the standard injection technique. RESULTS: there was a statistically significant difference between patients’ mean scores on pain severity and satisfaction levels after injections administered by the two techniques (p= 0.000). Also, it was found that gender affected pain severity relating to the injection but did not affect the level of individual satisfaction. CONCLUSION: the medium intensity coughing technique was found to reduce pain severity and increase patient satisfaction in general surgery patients receiving subcutaneous low molecular weight heparin injections. Trial registration: NCT05681338.